Women’s Cycle

Q. Why is it that the menstrual cycle brings so much discomfort for modern woman, pain, cramps and psychic instability? Why is bleeding necessary to remove ova and membranes? It looks like an error by the nature in the female body.

This is no error of nature. This is part and parcel of the feminine physiology. The bleeding cycle is essential in order to have the mechanism to produce the blood so that the infant may be developed and when there is no infant, no pregnancy, this blood becomes stale and must be discarded. That is why there is the bleeding cycle for women. All of this physiology is designed so that there is the capacity to produce life. In all of the mammals this occurs in one degree or another.

Discomfort is there for several reasons. Over the years as the human beings had developed, there happened some genetic difficulties and also pain occurs, pain occurs for several reasons. One is due to a genetic difficulty. There has been some development of the reduction in size of certain openings causing the pain, and hormonal imbalances and also due to sexual repression. In this day and age many women are sexually repressed. They do not have the energies in their bodies opened. They may be sexually active or not sexually active; this is not the issue, but it is if the centers are adjusted and the energies are flowing in the body sexually, then, if this energy is unlocked there will be less pain both in menstruation and in childbirth. So much of the pain has to do from the constriction of the muscles, because they are holding a kind of tension, that is not released and due to that there is a pain in the menstrual cycle and pain in the childbirth. The body is not willing to surrender, to open, and to adjust as a woman's body must. It is due the suppression of the emotion, suppression of sexual urges. This does not mean that one must be sexually active or sexually flagrant, but that a woman must open this area of the body allowing these energies to move throughout her being and then these motherly energies, when they are not used for the reproduction of the children, may be used to bring vitality and energy into the body and into the mind, bringing forward this energy and moving it upwards.

In many women in western societies there is a suppression of the sexual energies and this has gone on for hundreds and hundreds of years; it is a part and parcel of the suppression of women. The women who asserted themselves were treated very ill in past centuries, were they not? And they were persecuted for their sexuality, persecuted for their inspiration, persecuted for their womanhood. Thus women have developed a kind of suppression, a cultural suppression. Particularly in the west this is true.

There are certain practises that may be done for sexual opening and in ancient times these practises were a part of the life in the temples of the Goddess but they have not been known for thousands of years. The ancient teachings have not been in practice for many thousands of years. This is the tantra of the mothers that was practiced in the temples of the goddesses in many regions of the world.

The hormonal shifts for a woman in the childbearing years are very extreme. They have a very distinct impact upon the life of a woman and should not be ignored or suppressed. The cyclical nature of the life of a woman is not a weakness, it is her strength. It is due to this cycle that she may bear life into the world and it provides her with a variety of experiences. The modern world is established by the man so it is not in the rhythm of the mother's cycle. I would suggest that as much as possible you establish for women a lifestyle that will support their life cycle. In the time of menstruation it is best that the women do not perform strenuous activities. They should be relieved from many household tasks that may be performed by other women and time may be taken to rest, to experience the quietness of one's own mind and the connection to one's own body. This is a time to avoid sexual contact and a time for self-reflection, walking in nature, pleasant and non-stressful activities.

The cultures that knew and acknowledged the cyclical nature of the life of a woman prepared certain times that a woman could appreciate her different energies of her cyclic process and these cultures were more friendly to the women in these ways. This is lost in modern culture. Women are treated as if they are some sorts of abhorrent male, and they are expected to go work each and every day regardless of their condition, regardless of their cycle, regardless even if they are pregnant. But this is not in line with the nature of the woman's body, which requires rest at the time of cyclic change. Regarding sadhana, it is often best done when the mind is clear and the hormones quieted. The hormones become quieted when the woman is not put under excess stress during the time of month. You see, if she is made to do so many tasks, so many hard labors or to be in so much mental stress, when the time of month comes for her, she is likely to experience discomfort. All of these stresses and strains will make her period difficult, and this is one of the causes of this pain you are experiencing with the periods. The feelings are suppressed, the strain goes into the body, and then when the hormones shift, the body is not flexible, is not fluid, is not receptive and so it is strained, tired, the muscles do not want to flex as the hormones shift.

You see, the woman's body is very dynamic, always shifting and changing. The hormones are changing, tissues are changing, muscles must be able to open to expand and then to maintain, they must have good tone and yet be soft, relaxed, able to expand. All the tubular openings must be clear; there should not be muscle constrictions. However, in the modern woman whose life is so stressful and to whom society gives no acknowledgement of her feminine needs and who has lived through centuries of sexual oppression, this becomes quite difficult. Many women have a great deal of tension in this region so there is not the flexibility, not openness to adjust, expand, be able to move with the fluidity of the hormonal cycles. Therefore, there is pain.

A woman's sexuality and her spirituality are very closely aligned. The same in fact is true with men, but in a different way, because in the male the ojas must be preserved and then give the impetus for the rise of the kulakundalini, which feeds upon the ojas. Now the same is true for the women, but here the process is a bit different. The energies in the body are transmuted, not through the maintenance of semen, but through the development of receptive mind, for in the female body more lymph is produced than in the male body. This is so that the foetus might be well fed and during the time of menstruation this is shed with the menstrual cycle so that there may not be an excess build-up. All during the month the energies, the lymph in the body is building in the woman, and just prior to the period it reaches its maximum level, and she will have far more of this vitality than would be produced in the male. Then it will be released along with the menstrual cycle.

But if the woman is contracted sexually, these energies are suppressed. Then her capacity to feel this vitality would be suppressed. This is the vitality of the mother connected to the earth. Within the female body are the organs of reproduction to reproduce the human species and grow the infant. All of that vital energy to produce and nurture life is available to a woman when she is not pregnant as well. She may use it in a deep level of surrender, opening the body, opening the pelvic region and the heart chakra, bringing the energies of body up into the heart and into the mind, bringing the connectedness between the body, heart and mind all in a beautiful unity that comes from complete and total surrender.

So the strength of women lies in their capacity to experience love, experience devotional sentiment, devotional attachment and surrender. So the open body, the open heart and the open mind allow the vitality that forms the infant to become accessible to the women. This vitality may rise up and awaken the kulakundalini so the energy of the divine Shakti is drawn upwards. When a woman opens her body, opens her heart and opens her mind, this divine Shakti energy will be very strong indeed. The crown chakra, Parama Brahma in sahasrara chakra becomes the positive pole to bring the polar negativity of the Kundalini Shakti upwards to its pinnacle and there is the union of Shiva and Shakti, and the little with the supreme.

So you see a woman's body may be a vehicle for her spiritual development, and there is no need to suppress femininity or sexuality, instead directing these energies into a full and complete surrender to the great beloved, the divine universal Self. If a woman is directed in this way, all of her feminine tendencies to want relationship, attachment, that have to do with the very nature of her reproductive system, can be channeled into the relationship with the divine beloved, and she may find great happiness in this beautiful play between Radha and Krishna, Shiva and Shakti, the little and the Great. In this unit consciousness becomes surrendered fully to that divine origin from which it has sprung.

Q. What is the effect of fasting upon the female body?

It is good for all to cleanse the body provided there are no medical reasons why one cannot. It is good but fasting on the first day of her period is not advisable unless the period is very light and there is very little effect. It is not a proper day for fasting particularly without water it should not be done on the first day or even the second.

Q. Does the fasting help in sexual abstinence and if so, how does it function? Like in men fasting is one way to control sexuality.

Naturally if there is no food, one's mind is not engaged in such active thoughts. So it may be somewhat helpful to reduce excessive sexual desires.

Q. Is it superstition or truth that when a woman has the period she should not make food because the men can’t eat that food if she is having the period?

In the ancient times from a very practical point of view as was pointed out during the menses in certain cultures the women kept apart and the cooking was done by other women who were not in menses. But the purpose was not that the female was unclean but to give her rest, a special time when the other women of the household would take her chores and she would take rest to relax and not overstrain herself. Later as the times changed and patriarchy began to be dominant, it began to be seen that the female is unclean during this time, and being unclean she should not cook. It is a fact that if the women are not careful, there may be some contamination. From the very practical view the women must be very careful to wash their hands and be reasonably clean when cooking food should there be menses. But the main origin of this approach that the women should not cook the food is so they may rest. To stand in the kitchen for hours on end, cooking, baking and chopping is a bit strenuous, especially on the first day but also during her period.

Women must understand their own bodies. The spirit is neither male nor female. You, your knower within is neither male nor female, but the body you inhabit, that you have incarnated into, is female, and that female body has certain strengths, certain capacities. There has been a long history of suppression of women for quite some time now, and in this suppression women have become afraid of their own bodies, have they not? Yes, the women have become afraid of their own power, their own sexuality. Is it not seen in the culture, that the sexuality is a kind of power which a woman will have over man, so she will seduce him, and mesmerize him with her sexual powers. So it is seen as evil, isn't it? This is the legacy of patriarchy.

So first you must cleanse your minds of this concept that there is anything evil in the bodies you inhabit and in their sexuality. It is a deeply ingrained sentiment, more deeply than you realize. It is because the mothers have been beaten down for thousands of years and motherhood itself has lost its honor. Even among women it is not honored. Even among women there has been a loss of reverence for the mother, reverence for the mother in them. You know the women all want to be skinny, not fat, all want to be thin, don't want to have big bellies, big breasts, do not want to look like mothers. It is not fashionable, is it? They even like to be very straight; they don't want any flesh upon their hip. What are these things symbols of? They are symbols of motherhood. They are symbols of the maturity of the woman's body, and the hatred for the female form goes deep in the culture, and it comes from the male fear of the power of the women, for the women possess a power, that the man will never have, the power to nurture life within them, and that is a mighty force. It is feared. And how can dominance over such a mighty power be maintained? By suppression, isn't it?

Deep in the roots of your heritage, inherited from your mother, and from your mother's mothers a hatred of the female body, this fear of your own sexuality. And this is why there is pain in childbirth and pain in menstruation, because the women are not accepting their natural cycles. Not maintaining their sanctity of motherhood, they are not in reverence and appreciation of the power of the mother, of her cycles, of her manifestations. They want to behave like a man. They want to be able to work without any time to rest for the cycles of their body. The women have become men. A woman's mind is very bright, there is no lack of intellect in a woman but the nature of her body is different.

Learn to listen to your bodies, it is the first step. Learn to appreciate the beauty of yourself as women, as mothers, whether you have physically had the children or not. Appreciate the power of your sexuality that you may bring life, nurture life. It is a very great power and a secret key. You think on that.

You are all daughters of the supreme Brahma and mothers of the human race. Appreciate yourself and the divinity within you!